American Revolution
The Albany Plan of Union
• Colonists from seven
colonies met in Albany,
New York
• Benjamin Franklin, using
the Iroquois League as an
example, urged the
joining of the 13
colonies… “Join or Die”
• The idea failed, but
served as a model for
later government in the
United States
Strained Relations
• Britain felt that the
colonies had not paid
their fair share of the
costly French and
Indian War
• Britain began taxing
colonies to make
money
• Colonists grew angry.
They were used to
SALUTARY NEGLECT:
Britain not interfering
in their political and
economic activities
• Britain left soldiers in
the colonies after the
war
Causes of the Revolution
• Proclamation of 1763
– King declared land west
of Appalachians closed
to expansion
– Colonists were angry
because they sought to
move into lands
recently won from
France
New Taxes
• George Grenville
became Prime
Minister: Establishes
the “Grenville Acts”
– Wanted to enforce taxes
already in place
– Planned to develop new
taxes
• Sugar Act – Cut tax on
foreign molasses
– Designed to discourage
smuggling
– Ships were confiscated
if duties not paid
– Smuggling cases were to
be tried by judge (not
jury) in British court
• Quartering Act –
Colonists had to
provide housing and
supplies for British
soldiers who remained
in the colonies
• Stamp Act – Placed a
tax on newspapers,
pamphlets, legal
documents and most
printed materials
– Required a government
stamp to prove tax had
been paid
– First time Britain had
taxed the colonists
solely to raise money
Stamp Act Congress
• Seven colonies met to discuss Stamp Act
• James Otis (Mass.) claimed that Britain had no
right to tax the colonies, because the colonies
did not have a voice in British Parliament:
• “NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION”
Sons of Liberty
• Organized a BOYCOTT
of British goods =
NONIMPORTATION
• Offered violence to
those who refused to
comply
• Tarred and feathered
tax collectors
More Taxes: The Townshend Acts
• A tax on goods rather than a
direct tax
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Glass
Lead
Paper
Paint
Tea
• Colonial protests
– Britain was taxing them
without their consent… AGAIN!
– Britain was using the money to
keep soldiers in the colonies
• Colonists react!
Boston Massacre
• A group of colonists
picked a fight with
British troops in Boston
• The troops fired into
the crowd killing five
colonists, including
Crispus Attucks
• Committee of
Correspondence
formed to coordinate
resistance
Boston Tea Party
• Colonists angry at new
Tea Act
– Britain allowed East
India Tea Co. to sell tea
without paying tax
– Cheap tea drove
colonial tea merchants
out of business
• Colonists sneaked
aboard 3 ships and
dumped all the tea into
Boston Harbor
Intolerable Acts
• Britain punished the
colonies
• Passed the “INTOLERABLE
ACTS” (Coercive Acts)
– Boston Harbor closed until
tea is paid for
– Governor (General Thomas
Gage) appointed to
Massachusetts
• Quartering Acts increased
to include housing troops
in private homes
1st Continental Congress
• 55 delegates met in
Philadelphia (from all
colonies except
Georgia)
• Renewed boycott of
British goods
• Called to colonists to
arm themselves and
form MILITIAS
Lexington & Concord: Revolution
begins
• Colonial “rebels” called
themselves Patriots
• British troops ordered to
march on Concord,
Massachusetts to take
weapons supply
• “REDCOATS” met at
Lexington by
“MINUTEMEN” (colonial
militia)
• “Shot Heard Around The
World”
Ideas behind the American Revolution
• Thomas Payne
– Wrote pamphlet called
“Common Sense” in
1776
– Supported a COMPLETE
break with Britain
• Olive Branch Petition
– Stated colonists loyalty
and desire for peace
– King George III refused
to read it
Declaration of Independence
• Five Authors: Thomas
Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John
Adams, Roger Sherman and
Robert Livingston
• Penned by Virginia lawyer
Thomas Jefferson
•
Natural Rights
• Based on the writings of John
Locke
• “INALIENABLE RIGHTS”
(Cannot be taken away)
• Life
• Liberty
• Happiness (Changed from
property)
• Abigail Adams
• “Remember the Ladies”
• If you do not, women will not
be obligated to follow the
new laws
Battles of the Revolution
• Battle of Bunker Hill
– FIRST BATTLE
– 2,400 Redcoats v. 1600
Patriots
– British Casualties =
1,100… Patriot
Casualties = 400
– Actually fought on
Breed’s Hill
– Britain won but at great
cost
Elsewhere…
• George Washington
placed in command. He
transformed the different
militias into the
Continental Army
• Loyalists (Tories),
colonists whose loyalty
remained with Britain,
left Boston with the
British
• The British formed a
naval blockade of the
Atlantic coast to prevent
colonists from receiving
supplies
Battle of Trenton
• Sept. 1776, 30,000 British
and Hessians crushed
Colonial Army in NJ and
NY
• Dec. 26, 1776,
Washington crossed the
Delaware River on
Christmas night
– Surprise attacked the
British and Hessian troops
– Killed or captured 1,000
German Hessians
– Zero American casualties
– Key early American victory
Battle of Princeton
• Early 1777
• Washington defeats
British Gen. Charles
Cornwallis
• Washington loses
Philadelphia after the
battle of Brandywine
Creek
Battle of Monmouth
• June 1778
• German volunteer
Freidrich Von Steuben
trains the colonial army
• American victory after
big improvements.
• Pursues the British
after evacuation of
Philadelphia.
Hessians
• German mercenaries
hired by King George III
• Colonists angry
because they felt this
was a “family fight”
Battle of Saratoga
• TURNING POINT OF
THE WAR!!!!!
• Horatio Gates led
Patriots against
General John Burgoyne
• Victory for colonists
• France openly aided
the colonists once it
appears they could win
Assistance from abroad
• Marquis de Lafayette
– French General who
aided the Continental
Army
– Planned the Battle of
Yorktown
• Friedrich von Steuben
– German General
– Helped train the
Continental Army: Made
soldiers of farmers